The humble bean is a marvel of bio-engineering. Inside its hard-shelled, self-protective skin lurk life-sustaining carbohydrates, fiber, and protein. Everyone knows that if you can't get actual meat, beans (along with a little grain) will provide the necessary protein to keep you going. They're fat-free and won't even pump up your cholesterol. Beans are about as nutritious as vegetables get.
Beans last a long, long time. Consider the Anasazi bean, a close cousin to the popular pinto bean. It was unknown until ancient beans were found in the Anasazi ruins in the Southwest. Since the Anasazi disappeared over a thousand years ago, these were old beans. Talk about effective food storage! These beans germinated and grew, giving life to new generations of this ancient bean. Beans are tough little buggers. You have to love them.
Beans taste good. Oh, you'll find a few grinch-like souls around who eschew the things, but most people find beans to be pleasant, tasty fare. Some of us go a little further and develop a passion for nature's perfectly packaged food.
Beans are versatile. You can make almost anything out of beans. I don't encourage this odd behavior, but you can make bean cakes, bean drinks, bean pies, and even bean fudge. They tell me they taste good; I'm willing to take their word. But us normal folks can make all sorts of delicious things with beans, from simple bean soup (one of my favorite things in all the world) to baked beans, from three-bean salads to cassoulets. If it gots beans in it, I likes it, as Popeye might once have said. (Actually, he had a thing for spinach; I'm the one who loves beans.)
Beans come in multitude of varieties. Common beans seen every day include pinto, kidney, red, great northern, white, lima, black, and navy. Less commonly known beans include cranberry, cannelloni, fava, Anasazi, garbanzo, and a whole list of fun beans you can buy from specialty retailers. We won't include the jelly bean, of course. (Guess what my favorite candy is?)
Each bean has its own distinctive flavor, its own texture, and its own special uses. This is where the fun begins: we can make literally hundreds, even thousands, of wonderful dishes from these great little sources of perfect nutrition. So in the days and weeks to come, we will explore the myriad ways to use beans to please the palate.
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